The drinking age in the United States is one of the highest drinking ages in the world and has been a topic of debate since the law was first changed from 18 to 21 years old in 1984. The law involving the drinking age in the United States says that you have to be 21 years old to drink alcohol of any kind. That number is too high of an age and it is causing more problems in the United States than it was intended to fix. The drinking age should be set at 18 years of age so that parents can teach their kids to properly drink instead of having teenagers drinking in closed settings without being properly supervised. Teenagers are engaging in more binge drinking and pre-gaming than they used to which is causing more issues. The drinking age was originally raised from 18 years of age to 21 in order to lower the number of teenagers involved in alcohol related car accidents. While the number of teenagers involved in accidents has decreased, other problems that are more serious in today's society have risen. There are also numerous reasons as to why the number of teens involved in alcohol related car accidents has gone down; cars have become much safer today than in the early 1980's and people today are also much more aware of the dangers of drinking in driving than in the 1980's. The drinking age needs to be reconsidered because in today's world, the drinking age being at 21 years of age instead of 18 is causing more problems than it was intended to fix.

The number of young people drinking alcohol has gone up since the drinking age was raised from 18 to 21 years of age (Href Mailto). The earlier one individual starts drinking alcohol, the more there is a chance that the individual is to become an alcoholic. An article mentions that, "Alcoholism is a brain disease and the earlier people start drinking, the worse the effects on the brain," (Href Mailto). This problem becomes much worse when teenagers are not taught the proper way to drink and only drink in private settings where they are safe from getting in trouble. The rise in the number of young people drinking alcohol has led to teenagers and young adults drinking in private settings with no adult supervision. This has led to a rise in the number of deaths from alcohol poisoning. Since the change in the drinking age, the number of deaths in teenagers and young adults from ages 18-24 due to alcohol poisoning has gone up. In the article, Glaser states, "A 2009 study published in The Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs found that between 1998 and 2005, the number of cases of alcohol poisoning deaths among 18- to 24-year-olds nearly tripled, jumping from 779 cases to 2,290" (Glaser). This is a huge problem that can be fixed with a change in the drinking age. Moving the drinking age from 21 to 18 years of age would allow parents to teach their kids to drink properly. Parents would also be able to supervise their children during their first few times drinking. Parents could teach teenagers the proper way to drink which would significantly bring down the number of deaths from alcohol poisoning. It would also allow teenagers and young adults to drink in public places which would help prevent them from drinking in private settings where they often drink as much as they can before going out into the public. 

The debate on the drinking age has caused numerous people to come out and say their opinion. Several college presidents and police officers agree that the drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18 years of age. They are more concerned with the fact that there has been an increase in the number of teenagers drinking than in the decrease in the number of car accidents involving teenagers and alcohol. An article from CBS News compares the drinking age being at 21 to the prohibition for teenagers' ages 18-20 years old. Teenagers are not going to stop drinking but instead, just drink in private settings where they are not going to get in trouble with either the law or their parents. The former president of Middlebury College said to reporters, "It hasn't reduced or eliminated drinking. It has simply driven it underground, behind closed doors, into the most risky and least manageable of settings" (CBS News). College presidents are becoming more and more worried about how college students are drinking underground at fraternity parties and pre-gaming in private settings before going into the public or going out. Police officers also agree that it is hard to enforce the law with the number of underage people drinking in private settings. Police officers also agree that lowering the drinking age would open up teenagers into calling them when something has gone wrong. A CBS news article gives an example of what happens far too often. The article states that, "Gordie died of alcohol poisoning. To try and prevent another senseless death, the Lanahans have created the Gordie Foundation to spread the word about the dangers of alcohol abuse, and recently released "Haze," a film about excessive drinking on college campuses. 'If the drinking age had been 18 instead of 21, would the kids have called for help when Gordie passed out?' Stahl asked Leslie Lanahan. 'I think so,' she replied" (CBS News). The quote shows a great example of what happens far too often when teenagers first begin to drink. Teenagers and young adults become too worried and scared that they are going to get in trouble that they try and handle situations involving alcohol poisoning on their own. Teenagers do not know how to handle a friend who has alcohol poisoning and if they are too worried about getting in trouble to call for help, their friend may end up dying. College presidents and campus police officers around the country believe that lowering the drinking age would allow kids to drink in public areas keeping them away from drinking in private settings. They also believe that lowering the drinking age would open up more teenagers into calling for help when something goes wrong such as Gordie's example from CBS News. Too many kids become too scared to call police officials or parents when something goes wrong due to the fear of getting in trouble and it will sometimes cost teenagers their life. College presidents, current and former, as well as campus police officials both agree that the drinking age should be lowered to 18 from 21 years old.

Another reason for the drinking age to be lowered is because of the drastic rise in the number of teenagers who participate in binge drinking. The New York Times says, "There are a number of arguments against the 21-year minimum age. Foremost, in my mind, is the dramatic rise in binge drinking among young people since the 1984 change  --  with its consequent danger to health and safety" (Nugent). Binge drinking is a major issue that causes many health issues among young adults. Binge drinking is defined as people drinking so that they can get drunk. An article states "It means drinking alcohol to the point of getting drunk. It's defined as having 5 or more drinks in a row for men. For women, it's 4 or more drinks in a row" (Dangers of Binge Drinking). Teenagers are not allowed to drink, so when they are in closed environments with alcohol, they binge drink. Teenagers also view alcohol as a prize because it is not something they can do often so when they do get alcohol, they almost always drink to get drunk and sometimes overdo it. An article that talks about the dangers of binge drinking states, "And getting drunk can involve many other dangers, including dizziness, loss of coordination, diarrhea, vomiting, lack of judgment, or even passing out. If a person vomits when passed out, the airway can become blocked, and the result can be death" (Dangers of Binge Drinking). The number of deaths from alcohol poisoning has gone up and that is a problem that needs to be addressed. Lowering the drinking age would allow teenagers to drink in the open preventing them from drinking as much as they can before going out. Teenagers would also not view alcohol as a prize as much as they do. They would be exposed to it the proper way from their parents and learn that not every time they drink, they should drink as much as they can or to the point that they are intoxicated. 

While there are a good amount of people who believe that the drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18, there is still a substantial amount of people who believe the drinking age should remain at 21. The main argument that people have for keeping the drinking age at 21 is that it has decreased the number of teenagers and young adults who are involved in alcohol related car accidents. A website called Madd stresses that the drinking age being at 21 years of age has saved many lives. The website also states that alcohol ruins the brains of younger individuals under the age of 21. People under the age of 21 brains are still maturing and alcohol can greatly effect this among teenagers. Madd states, "Enforcing the legal drinking age of 21 reduces traffic crashes, protects young people's maturing brains, and keeps young people safer overall" (Madd). Younger people also have a harder time knowing when they have reached their limit and often tend to overdo it. Teenagers tend to binge drink more at a single time than adults. It is also known that younger people under the age of 21 get drunk faster while having less drinks because their bodies are still maturing. An article states, "The age limit for alcohol is based on research which shows that young people react differently to alcohol. Teens get drunk twice as fast as adults, but have more trouble knowing when to stop. Teens naturally overdo it and binge more often than adults" (Madd). People who do not want the drinking age lowered also point out that there are laws in some states that allow parents to give their own kids alcohol under their supervision. The article claims that teenagers who have parents that allow them to drink and that have parents that know their drinking, the teenager drinks more often than other teenagers who have parents that do not approve of drinking. Madd states that, "Some states permit parents to do this with their own child (rarely, if ever, with someone else's child), but there's no evidence that this approach actually works. As matter of fact, there is evidence to contrary. When teens feel they have their parents' approval to drink, they do it more and more often when they are not with their parents. When parents have concrete, enforced rules about alcohol, young people binge drink less" (Madd). Parents who allow their kids to drink underage often drink more than kids who have parents that do not allow them to drink. There are a lot of people who believe that the drinking age should remain at 21 and that the drinking age being that high has saved thousands of lives.

While people who do not believe the drinking age should be lowered have many reasons for believing that, a lot of these views can be explained. There are many reasons as to why the number of young adults involved in alcohol related car accidents has gone down. People today know much more about the dangers of drinking and driving. There are also a lot stricter consequences that come if one decides to drink and drive. Cars today are much safer than they were in the early 1980's when the law was first changed. Safer cars has led to the survival rate of people in car accidents being much higher than it was when the law was changed. An article on ProCon.org also presented a major point. The article states, "In 2009, the 21- to 24-year-old age group had the highest percentage of drivers in fatal crashes with blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) levels of .08 or higher  --  35 percent. Any increase in traffic accidents or fatalities in 18- to 20-year-olds would be offset by a decrease for those 21 and older" (ProCon.org). This is a major fact because the law was changed to decrease the number of young people ages 16-20 involved in accidents due to alcohol. While the number of people ages 16 to 20 years of age has gone down, the number of people ages 21 to 24 years old became the highest percentage of people involved in alcohol related car accidents. These are the first years that a person is allowed to drink. No matter what age people start to drink at, the ages where they start to drink will have the highest percentage of people involved in alcohol related car accidents. Another one of the arguments that people who do not want the drinking age to be lowered is that there is too much binge drinking among young adults. Lowering the drinking to 18 from 21 years old however, would help reduce the number of young people who participate in binge drinking. The reason young adults take part in binge drinking is because they cannot drink in public places so they often 'pre-game' or drink as much as they can before going out. Young adults and teenagers also binge drink because they are never taught the proper way to drink. Most often, the first time someone drinks is with the friends in an unsupervised environment, often in a basement. If the drinking age was at 18, parents could teach their kids how to drink properly before they establish their bad habits. The claim that people's brains are still maturing under the age of 21 is true and alcohol can affect a maturing brain. What a lot of people do not know is that a lot of people's brains are still maturing until they are 25 years old. One article states, "Most of the college students engaging in binge drinking still have developing brains, which can last through age 21 to age 25" (Dangers of Binge Drinking). The argument that people under the age of 21 should not drink because their brains are still maturing is invalid because people's brains are maturing until they are 25 years old. If people should wait until their brains are matured, they would have to wait until they were 25 years old to drink. While these are not all the reasons that people believe the drinking age should not be lowered, these were the major points and all of them can be explained. The drinking age should be lowered from 21 years old to 18 years old.

The debate about the drinking age has been going on since the drinking age was first changed from 18 to 21 years old in 1984. People have never been able to come to an agreement about what age people in the United States should start drinking. The drinking age should be at 18 years old. The drinking age being at 21 has caused more issues than it was intended to fix. The new issues are more severe and dangerous for teenagers and the effects are being seen. The drinking age was originally changed to lower the number of teenagers involved in alcohol related car accidents. While this number has gone down, the number of deaths from alcohol poising, and the number of teenagers engaging in binge drinking has gone up. These problems are very severe and need to be fixed. Lowering the drinking age to 18 would allow parents to teach their kids to drink properly preventing them from developing bad habits. America should catch up with the rest of the world and have the drinking age lowered from 21 to 18 years of age.  

